Kings’ Keegan Murray exits Friday’s game with thumb injury

Kings forward Keegan Murray, who is entering his fourth NBA season and is eligible for a rookie scale extension until October 20, suffered a left thumb injury in Friday’s preseason loss to Portland, as Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee relays.

Murray sustained the injury late in the second quarter, Anderson writes, with Sacramento later ruling him out for the second half. The 25-year-old compiled nine points, five rebounds and a steal in 16 minutes of action before leaving the contest.

It’s possible the Kings may simply have been exercising an abundance of caution by ending Murray’s night early. Still, it’s never a great sign when a starter is forced out of a game, preseason or otherwise.

We’ll have to wait for further updates to see if Murray will miss additional time as a result of the left thumb issue.

James Ham of ESPN 1320 and TheKingsBeat.com notes (via Twitter) that forward/center Dario Saric was an unexpected bright spot for Sacramento in the one-point loss. The Croatian veteran only appeared in 16 games for the Nuggets last season and didn’t play in the Kings’ first preseason contest, but he went 4-of-4 from three-point range en route to 14 points in 14 minutes on Friday.